The 2020 FM Global Resilience Index published: identifies the countries best positioned for post-pandemic business recovery
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- Published: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 08:22
Resilience is never more critical than in a world shocked by pandemic, and the top-ranked countries in the 2020 FM Global Resilience Index possess strong foundations for a robust rebound.
The annual index, published by FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers, is the definitive ranking of nearly 130 countries by the resilience of their business environments. It provides companies with objective information about countries’ economic, risk quality and supply chain resilience – factors that create a springboard for businesses working to recover from the pandemic.
“When recovering after a crisis like COVID-19, resilience should be a key consideration for people, countries and businesses,” said Adriano Lanzilotto, operations vice president and client service manager for FM Global’s London operations. “The 2020 FM Global Resilience Index provides a strong indication of how a country’s business environment may fare during the recovery phase, and how quickly organizations in that country might be able to bounce back from the economic damage caused by COVID-19. This insight can be vital for making significant decisions as they establish or relocate facilities, expand supply chains and engage with new markets.”
In addition to outlining the post-pandemic business landscape, the FM Global Resilience Index stands as a dynamic reminder that conventional business risks – flood, cyber attack, fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, oil shocks and political upheaval – continue to threaten operations and overall value. That’s worth remembering on the eve of an Atlantic hurricane season projected to see above-normal activity, and in today’s constantly evolving risk landscape.
Top, bottom, risers, fallers
The index’s top-ranked regions (in descending order) are Norway, Switzerland, Demark, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Austria, Central United States and Eastern United States (both the US and China comprise three regions with differing natural hazard exposure).
Norway occupies the top spot for the second year in a row, supported by strong economic productivity, a stable political environment, low corruption, high natural hazard risk quality and robust corporate governance.
The United Kingdom ranked 13th for its overall ranking in this year’s update to the FM Global Resilience Index. The country also continued to rank highly in the 2020 index for a variety of drivers of resilience that underpin the country’s overall ranking, including supply chain visibility (ranked 4th), quality of infrastructure (ranked 11th) and natural hazard risk quality (ranked 12th).
The bottom 10 countries in the 2020 Resilience Index overall (in descending order) are Nicaragua, Nepal, Mali, Mozambique, Iran, Lebanon, Chad, Ethiopia, Venezuela and Haiti.
A major riser in this year’s index is Taiwan which climbed 6 places to 29th place based on improvements in its natural hazard risk quality and quality of infrastructure. A major faller in the index is Nicaragua, which fell 9 places to 121st place due to increases in cyber risk and political risk as well as decreased control of corruption.
